Utile to Design Innovative “Complete Neighborhoods” for Buffalo Bayou’s East Sector in Houston

Houston’s Buffalo Bayou Partnership (BBP) is launching a major planning effort along Buffalo Bayou’s East Sector that will continue the non-profit organization’s legacy of transformative parks, trails and open space. In revitalizing the waterway east of downtown (from US 59 to the Port of Houston Turning Basin), BBP seeks to establish a pioneering precedent where green space can be a catalyst for inclusive growth and community development. Utile is the architect and urban design consultant on a team led by Michael Van Valkenburgh and Associates (MVVA), an internationally-recognized landscape architecture firm.

Utile will work closely with MVVA on new development models for parcels that front the Bayou. Potential strategies include “green fingers” that extend from the Bayou into an integrated neighborhood network of paths and greenways. Utile will also study ways that Houston’s prevalent residential development types – including the Texas Donut and freestanding townhouses – can be creatively adapted and deployed to create more socially diverse and visually rich walkable neighborhoods.